State and local ordinances dictate the necessity for public restrooms in certain establishments. For instance, under some regulations, restaurants need a single water closet per seventy-five male and female patrons but only one lavatory for two hundred patrons. For larger arenas, one water closet per one hundred and twenty males and sixty females is required while only requiring one lavatory per two hundred males and one hundred and fifty females. For large passenger terminals, one water closet per five hundred individuals and one lavatory per seven hundred individuals is required.
While the number of public restrooms is mandated, the actual restroom designs are not. The flux of the inconsistencies of restrooms has prompted, among other things, the formation of the American Restroom Association, which discusses various aspects of restrooms at www.Americanrestroom.org. The mission statement for the American Restroom Association includes the advocation for the availability of clean, safe, well-designed public restrooms which includes restroom design and technology, restroom availability, pertinent legislation and regulations, and increasing research related to the problems faced by people who hesitate to travel or who avoid activities that put them out of range of proper toilet facilities. With a few exceptions, states adopt either the International Plumbing Code (IPC), the Uniform Plumbing Code (UPC) or the National Standard Plumbing Code (NSPC). While these codes typically are concerned with identifying issues regarding the number of restrooms and lavatories which must be present depending upon accessibility and the size of the public establishment, these codes are deficient in identifying specific requirements to standardization of rest rooms. For instance, while there is a trend for hands-free operation of toilets, lavatories and the like, these are merely incorporated into restrooms at the discretion of the proprietor of the public facility and are not mandated by any legislation. Accordingly, while restrooms are required to meet certain standards so that they can be utilized by everyone, they are not necessarily designed for everyone. In fact, until recently, handicapped individuals experienced great hardship in utilizing public restrooms until legislation to eliminate these hardships was put into place by the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). Accordingly, since the utilization of public restrooms is a common occurrence, their designs should include access for everyone. For the purposes of this patent application, “restroom” is defined as a room equipped with toilets and lavatories for public use.
In addition to the adequate presence of restrooms, the overall construction and condition of restrooms is also important to the public. A survey conducted by the International Facility Management Association, www.ifma.org, indicated that besides a public building's front entrance, its restrooms have the greatest potential to negatively impact a visitor's impression of a facility. Also, durability, cleanliness and ADA compliance were highly regarded characteristics of restrooms. Of the respondents to the survey, nearly three-quarters believed that their restrooms were the most frequently visited common area of the building. Key findings from the survey indicated that issues regarding the restrooms were as frequent as other prime issues such as parking and temperature. In particular, customers were most concerned with restroom cleanliness and indicated hands-free sensor technology is the most popular design trend. Accordingly, the experience which the public has with a particular establishment's restroom will greatly affect that individual's perception of that establishment.
The interrelationship between the public and restrooms is so intertwined that not only is the location of restrooms important but also their accessibility, interactivity and safety. For instance, at a meeting at the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of Buffalo regarding utilization of public amenities, certain key attributes for restrooms was discussed. Such guidelines regarding the design of restrooms included the physical design, such as the floor surfaces draining and drying quickly; the provision of the automatic flush plumbing and changing tables for babies; hooks for coats at or below 48 inches, and other ergonomically friendly features.
However, with all of the attention placed on restrooms and their “friendliness” to the public, a major problem with restrooms currently exists. Namely, lavatories are too high for children, toddlers and diminutive persons to utilize. This is especially a problem because many lavatories have installed infrared devices to trigger the faucet to turn on. Hence, while parents go to public places with their children such as museums, aquariums, zoos, and restaurants, the lavatories and sinks at these public restrooms are too high for the child to use without assistance from a parent. Accordingly, a parent has to pick up a toddler and hold them prone over a sink countertop to enable the toddler to wash its hands. Inevitably, the toddler gets its clothing wet due to the water left on the countertop from previous usage by an adult. To perform this maneuver, the parent typically has to place a diaper bag or other item which he is typically carrying onto the lavatory floor, pick up the toddler, and then place the toddler back down. As toddlers mature, their weight can approach forty pounds and more, but they are still too short to utilize the lavatory. Such toddler weight is too heavy for some parents, and in some cases, the parent may injure himself picking up and orienting the toddler over the sink.
To alleviate the problem associated with not enabling sink access for toddlers and diminutive persons the inventors of this application have previously been awarded three patents for a sink access device which enables toddlers and diminutive persons to access a sink. The patents are U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,037,557; 7,861,332; 7,716,757 for a sink access device. This innovative invention was recognized and discussed in the USPTO's own publication “Inventor's Eye” in January 2011 when the '332 patent was issued. An additional recognition of the unique novelty of the invention in the '557; '332; and '757 patents and need in the marketplace was identified by the product being awarded best new product by the International Association of Amusement Parks in 2011. While the sink access device associated with these patents are suitable for their intended purpose, they are not suitable for single sink restrooms. Accordingly, an improved design is necessary.